Egypt Retaliates, Closes All PLO Offices : Cairo’s Action Follows Criticism by Palestine National Council

Egypt closed all the offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization on its soil Monday to protest a PLO statement linking Palestinian-Egyptian relations to a condemnation of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.

An announcement read in Cairo by Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid said, “All offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its affiliated institutions” in Egypt have been shut down to protest a resolution passed Saturday by the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s so-called parliament in exile.

The resolution, which was reportedly passed despite the objections of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, stipulated that future relations between the PLO and Egypt should take into account the decisions adopted at the 16th session of the Palestine National Council, which was held in Algiers in 1983. At that meeting, the delegates condemned the 1978 Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel and called upon the PLO leadership to encourage Egyptian opposition groups and “popular forces” to demand their abrogation.

The Egyptian order, which affects seven PLO-related offices in Cairo and Alexandria, appeared to stop short of the formal break in relations that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had threatened if the council resolution on Egypt contained any reference to the decisions adopted at the 16th council meeting.

Nevertheless, it surprised many PLO officials, who were still in Algiers following the weeklong council session that ended early Sunday.

They said they had not expected Egypt to react so strongly because Arafat, who fought to exclude the indirect condemnation of Egypt, had already announced that the resolution would not affect Egyptian-PLO ties.

“They knew Arafat did not want that wording, they knew why he had to accept it and they should have known it would make no real difference,” a senior Palestinian source said.

The source added that PLO officials in Cairo were not informed of the decision in advance and learned of it only when they went to their offices to find themselves locked out, the doors sealed with red tape.

Arafat Refuses Comment

Arafat, who brushed by reporters without comment, held a series of meetings throughout the day with the leaders of other PLO factions to discuss the Egyptian decision. Palestinian sources said the PLO’s response would probably not be decided until after an emergency session of the PLO Executive Committee, which was expected to convene soon.

While several Palestinian officials said they thought Egypt had “overreacted,” the decision clearly reflected a deep sense of anger and insult in Cairo. One Egyptian Foreign Ministry official characterized Arafat’s stance as one of “insolence and ingratitude” toward Egypt, which has been a staunch supporter of the PLO and a firm advocate of the need to include it in the Middle East peace process.

“We were fed up with the deceits,” the official said bitterly. “We understand he (Arafat) was under pressure to accept this resolution. But we will not be taken for granted.”

The senior official said that Mubarak was personally “outraged” by the resolution, which Foreign Minister Meguid, in the statement he read to reporters, called a “foolish resolution issued for no reason at all and in total aggression against the truth.”

Egypt, Meguid added, “cannot remain silent to this foolishness and slander committed by elements who . . . placed themselves in the service of suspect forces that conspired against the Palestinian people and stabbed them in the back.”

Beyond the emotional reaction, however, analysts in Cairo said the Egyptian order to close the PLO offices also clearly reflected a growing frustration and impatience with Arafat.

Jordan’s King Hussein, his patience also exhausted, suspended an agreement with Arafat on a joint approach toward peace talks with Israel for the same reasons last year.

Ironically, the Palestine National Council session that ended Sunday was seen by Western diplomats and other observers as a victory for Arafat’s attempts to steer a moderate course for the PLO in spite of concessions he was forced to make.

Indeed, the anti-Egypt resolution adopted Saturday was a milder version of a draft originally proposed by the Damascus-based radicals, who had been demanding that Arafat sever all PLO ties with Egypt.

The officials said they believed that the wording of the resolution was sufficiently vague to give Arafat a “free hand” to maintain relations with Egypt. However, they added, the Egyptian move now makes this more difficult because the radicals will try to use it to increase the pressure on Arafat to widen the breach with Cairo.